PARISH OF WOKINGHAM ALL SAINTS ANNUAL REPORT 2017 Foreword from the Rector Welcome to this report of our life at All Saints Church Wokingham in 2016. There s plenty going on (we received 33 submissions for this report)! I hope you re inspired as I am by what you read. Between the lines which describe all the activities and events I hope you sense the Spirit of God at work. This has been my impression during 2016. It is one of the joys and privileges of being a priest in the church that we get to hear the inner stories people share with us about their lives and faith. It is very encouraging to be able to report, that for all the challenges facing the church as an institution and an organisation, which our parish is not immune from, the Lord is present and active in this place. Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way to this report; with special thanks to Peter Barrett who wrote it, and to our PCC Secretary, Graham Leeson, who collated the material. The Reverend Canon David Hodgson, March 2017
Annual Church Report 2017 Still Working on the Big Four We re still working on our 4 goals: We want to be a church that shows God s love to everyone, including children and youth. We want to be active in the heart of the community. We want to provide a variety of worship for all people. We want everyone to grow their gifts and deepen their faith in God. This comes from the MAP (Mission Action Plan) which we set up in 2014 remember that? Let s look at 3 specific initiatives that came out of MAP this year plus another that is strongly connected to it. 1. CC2020 This major project aims to refurbish our church for 21st century worship and community activities. We ve done a feasibility study with various options, which were displayed in church during November- January 2017. We ve now had feedback (over 150 responses) and shared the results. During 2017 we will work on refining these designs and consulting with all the historic bodies and more widely in the town. 2018 will be a year for grant applications/fundraising and we should still be able to start work well before 2020. Incidentally, we ve also repaired the roof, decorated and cleaned up the clergy vestry and erected a screen between the ringing gallery and the main church (which means bell ringing and choir rehearsals can take place at the same time and, as a bonus, the acoustics in the church have improved somewhat!). Plus we ve started work on a Garden of Remembrance with paths, borders and bench already in place and due for completion by May 2017. 2. Web/Social Media We hired an agency to help create a new logo and visual identity for the church, as well as design a new web site. The pilot site was launched in time for the Christmas 2016 services with the final launch of the full site expected before April. We also have Facebook and Twitter accounts and send out a monthly newsletter to over 400 people. 3. Pilgrim Led by Rosemary Sturmer and Jo Robinson, the Pilgrim course is a journey to the heart of God and to a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ within the household of the Church. Authors include Stephen Cottrell (ex-bishop of Reading) and Steven Croft (new Bishop of Oxford). Pilgrim approaches issues of faith not through persuasion but participation in the company of fellow travelers. This is the second year and we covered the Beatitudes and the 10 Commandments, with 6 sessions for each topic. More will follow later in the year.
Talking of house groups, All Saints has a variety of options ranging from contemplative prayer (based around Julian of Norwich), discussions based on the York courses (Eureka), bible study/review of Christian books (Thursday Evening Group), a mix of reflection and bible study (Emmaus) and bible study plus visits to a local synagogue and Newbold College for lectures (Serendipity). Take your pick! 4. Partnership in Missional Church (PMC) We joined PMC 18 months ago as one of many churches in the area (St Paul s are also involved). Peter Barrett, John Boylan, Clive Charlton and Jo Robinson are the team members. This 3 year process is designed to help us find out what God is up to in our community and how to get involved. Easy to say! PMC is complementary to the MAP process - both are about mission! As part of this we ve looked at our history (church timeline), interviewed lots of people and done an audit of the Wokingham community (social, economic data etc). Our interviews led to lots of questions back from the PMC central team; these were discussed by various house groups and gave us great feedback. We had an open meeting in the Cornerstone late last year to share all these outputs and get everyone s views. We ve introduced a number of different spiritual practices to All Saints (e.g. Dwelling in the Word), which involve listening (to God and each other) and looking for like-minded people in our community ( partners for peace ). We re currently trying to set up a project (read adventure!) in the community more details to come on that one. So if you want to be more aware of what God is doing in our community and get involved join the team!
Supporting Children and Families We continue to support a variety of services for young families, including Wednesday Mums, the 11.00 Sunday service and Messy Church. Messy Church continues to be a creative and colourful opportunity to explore bible stories and different times of the church year (Harvest, Epiphany, Advent etc). It s a fun, interactive and safe place for families and children to celebrate God s love and to enjoy learning more about the Christian faith. Little Steps, a monthly parent and toddler group, helps build relationships between parents, children and volunteers and is viewed as positive outreach in the community. Christine Snell acts as a link between the church and the local coordinator (booking the hall, running the rota etc). After a quiet start in January, numbers have suddenly surged due to publicity at Wednesday Mums. The PCC funds the monthly hall hiring and volunteers donate refreshments, toys, books and clothing. More formally, All Saints School is supported by four members of our church (the Rector, David Hodgson, Associate Rector, Anna Harwood, Doug Colwill and Steve Smith) who are Foundation Governors. We continue to support the school through a variety of ways (staffing committees that oversee budgets, resources, teaching, admissions, marketing, pay, etc). But it's the Head Teacher, Jacqui Kearney, and all her staff who should get the plaudits. An Ofsted inspection during the autumn pronounced the school "Good" and the nursery "Outstanding". Congratulations! This year The Mothers Union celebrated 140 years of service. Their commitment to young families in the parish continued with 2 informal parenting sessions and sending Baptism anniversary cards plus support at the monthly service when we invite these families back. The focus for campaigning this year was gender-based violence. Fundraising included a 140th birthday garden party at The Rectory in July, quarterly cake sales on Sunday mornings and emergency supplies donated for parents of children at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Engaging with the Arts 2016 was a bumper year for concerts with a very full programme, ranging from an excellent opening recital by Dame Emma Kirkby (with Jakob Lindberg) to an exhilarating closing concert by a Pink Floyd tribute band! The 2016 performance of Handel's Messiah was the best yet (with our own choir plus professional orchestra and soloists), drawing a large crowd. This has now become a much-loved annual event and a high point in Wokingham's cultural life. Thanks are due to all the volunteers who have contributed to the development of the concerts programme. The singing at the principal choral services of the year such as Choral Evensong and Carol Services - has been of an extremely high quality. All Saints Choir is becoming ever-more inclusive, with firmly established groups offering opportunities for absolute beginners to very experienced singers, adults and children. The Nave Choir has continued to grow and we have been delighted to see people finding joy in singing, sometimes for the first time or after a break for many years. Great progress is being made by the singers in the special educational club that meets on Wednesday evenings.
Working around the World We continue to support a variety of mission agencies such as CMS, USPG,Mission Aviation Fellowship, Bible Society and CIFORD (faith based community development in Northern Uganda) with their focus on overseas development. In local mission, we support PACT (Parents and Children Together) and Soulscape (Christian presence in Wokingham schools). This year we raised over 10,000 for Christian Aid across the Wokingham churches, including over 1,000 from two Crib Services on Christmas Eve at All Saints and 1,100 from the sponsored walk at Bix, near Henley (organised by David Cupper with checkpoints staffed by a lot of familiar All Saints faces!). In addition, this year we hosted the Christian Aid evening service for all the churches in Wokingham as well as having a service in the morning dedicated to their work. Thanks to every collector during Christian Aid Week, to the many who donated significantly on an individual basis and for all the other fundraising initiatives that were supported by folks from our church. By the time you read this we ll be ready for Christian Aid Week 2017. Please volunteer and save lives! Caring for our Community The Home Communion team continues to visit 5 Care Homes (plus Acorn Drive) each month for a Communion service and takes Holy Communion to individuals in their own homes (usually once a
month). They also organised a social event for people attending the 8.00/11.15 services in October when over 40 people attended. During 2016 the Baptism Care team welcomed 45 children into the church. This is often the first contact families have with the Church. We welcome baptism families from when they first come into contact with the Church office and beyond the baptism day. Gill Allen and the team also offer monthly preparation sessions, then the clergy visit each family. We welcome each family at the service with balloons with the children s names on the pews and follow up after the baptism with cards on anniversaries and an invite to re-light candles at a family service. We also send out regular email invitations to families plus personal invitation letters at Christmas. Families are invited and encouraged to keep in touch by coming to a family service, Messy Church, Wednesday Mums or Little Steps. The Pastoral Care team is composed entirely of volunteers, trained within the parish (on a diocesan accredited course) and authorised by the Rector and PCC. They continue to work closely with the clergy and congregation to walk alongside people in their times of trouble.
The Bereavement Care team offer help to all members of the parish who have a funeral linked to All Saints and live within, or close to, the parish. 25% of people take up the offer of a visit or regular phone calls while an additional 50% are grateful for a one-off telephone conversation. The annual Memorial Service continues to be well attended with increasing numbers joining us each year. We have reinstated the practice of sending a card close to the first anniversary of the death to people whose next of kin had a funeral through All Saints. This has been largely successful where we have had feedback. Grave Talk is a Church of England initiative to help people get together and talk about death, dying and funerals in a relaxed, easy social context. A number of sessions have been run within All Saints groups and 2 sessions open to the wider congregation. All the sessions have been very well received. In fact, people were reluctant to finish and very keen to roll out the project so that more people could benefit. The session is a guided conversation, using prompt cards that cover 5 themes: life, death, society, funerals and grief. The plan is to start holding sessions aimed at the Wokingham community in 2017. We continue to offer individual prayer support during and after the 9.30 a.m. Sunday Service for people to pray for themselves or share their concern for others. In addition, All Saints Fellowship provides those living alone with social events, including presentations on various topics (the history of Wokingham, Berkshire Tudor life and the Story of the Poppy appeal), plus a Summer and Christmas party. The Regulars There are also lots of people who work away quietly behind the scenes, who we need to remember. The Flower Guild continues to make our church look beautiful, especially during weddings and special occasions. The Guild ran a successful demonstration and social evening in March in memory of Gill Jones. The folks who help out during communion (Lay Eucharistic Ministers) have had to say goodbye to Joyce Baldry, Jack Hayley and Anne Penn after many years of service (thank you!) and welcome Anne- Marie Woodfield and David Chapman. Thanks to all our bible readers and servers at 8/9.30am services and their contribution to our worship (we couldn t do it without you). Our Bell Ringers continue to ring for services, weddings as well as the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare s death and the Queen s 90th birthday. Tower visits by Brownies and Cubs continue. They ve also been in the local press talking about the history of ringing at All Saints. And they put up and decorate our Christmas tree every year! The Safeguarding team ensures we all have up-to-date DBS checks (we do!) and refresher training is in place (among other things). There are 80 people on our database working with vulnerable adults, young people and children this is a critical service to ensure we look after those in our care. This year we have continued Willing Spirit exercise classes in the Cornerstone. In total, 27 people have attended one or more of the sessions. There are a variety of options, including Pilates, a simple Circuit Class and more active exercises. The classes are attended by individuals both from All Saints and the local community.
We owe a huge Thank You to everyone who is involved in the life of All Saints. Your behind-the-scenes contributions are immensely appreciated (and the up-front ones as well). Thank you for all the amazing things you have accomplished in the last year and the foundations you have laid for the future. Let s pray for God to continue to guide us by his Spirit to focus on the things that really matter to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly and love our neighbour as Christ loves us.